Reclamation

Having felt something wrap around her wrist, Zein slowly cracked open an eye. She was expecting to suddenly be restrained and molested or something equally perverted. Instead, she was left with a nifty piece of technology that detailed the date, time, and temperature. She looked around, finding a note on the table next to the bed, scolding her for not going to see this Vanthus character first. She grumbled, getting up and stretching. With a sigh, she left the room and headed downstairs, still in her underwear. She didn't give two shits about being properly clothed or not. Besides, her panties matched her sports bra. Not that matching black was hard to do.

She kicked open the armory door, spying Marcus and the twins talking to a muscular, tatted-up guy. Riley was zooming around the room with more energy than Zein thought possible. She marched up to the muscular guy, assuming he was Vanthus. "So I guess there's some dire need for me to come see you. Vanthus, right?" she asked, her hands on her hips. Zein's timing was impeccable; she literally walked in right after Vanthus finished explaining everything. "Spare the bullshit and tell me only what I need to know. I don't want to waste either of our time."

 

"Tsundere-y!" Riley jumped at Zein, latching onto the girl "You just missed it- Fluffy told us about how this is the safest thing and stuff... and... stuff... I forget..."
She held up the bag "But rice! And Dick likes swords and Roxanne likes axes and I have a Sydney!" She twirled Sydney around in her hands, the blade zipping around between the two girls but never touching either. Riley turned to Marcus "And of course I know this stuff. Doesn't everyone know this stuff? I was taught by Sydney, of course!" Riley closed the rice bag as well as she could and hugged it close, humming before turning to Fluffy "Does Sydney need one too?" She threw Sydney into the air, the knife morphing into a girl with long black hair that fell over her as she crouched on the floor, her black cloak long and baggy.
"Do I have to?" Came a bored voice.

 

"Holy shit!" Roxanne shouted when she threw her knife in the air all casually, and it SUDDENLY MORPHING INTO A PERSON. The axe in her hand clattered to the floor, and her face paled as she grabbed at the shelf for stability. Her other hand covered her heart, and she suddenly looked very dizzy.

Richard noticed this and grabbed his sister by the shoulders. "Rox, you need to calm down... Deep breaths..." he said, and she suddenly fainted and collapsed in her brother's arms. He carefully lowered her to the floor, making sure to push the axe on the ground aside so she wouldn't land on it. "Sorry... She has a heart condition. All the excitement has overworked it. She needs some rest, but I think she'll be okay for now." He put the sword that he had dropped back, along with the axe Roxanne was holding. "I'm going to take her up to one of the rooms now. Is it okay if we share a room? Or is that frowned upon?" he asked Vanthus.

Richard bent down and scooped up his sister, getting her comfortable so he wouldn't drop her before he'd take her upstairs.

 

Riley quietly slinked over and helped Richard lift up Roxanne without even asking. Sydney had a ball in her hands as she exited the armory to follow them, walking to them as it wrapped around her wrist. "She can share a room with a me!" Riley suddenly turned to Richard.
"That's not exactly something I think he'd be OK with. What with your tastes and all." Sydney walked beside Riley as they began up the stairs.
"What? Ohhh- haha... right. Right... Well Sydney can sleep in her weapon form in Roxanne's room then! For watching over her!" Riley grinned, turning to Sydney who shook her head.
"If the two are OK with this I guess I could do that... If necessary I could just stay up all night in a chair or something and watch her."

 

Richard pulled away from everyone. "I appreciate all your offers, but we'll be okay. I'll just take the room next to her. Like I said, she just needs some rest and she'll be okay."

He wasn't particularly fond of any of these people staying with her. Marcus was a guy, and like acanthus said, no way was he letting a guy spend a night with his sister. And Riley seemed to prefer the same gender, and was a bit more open about it. He wasn't fond of that idea either. And given how Sydney basically put her in this position... That wasn't happening either.

He took her to the elevator and pressed the button. He turned around to look at the people who followed him while he waited for the elevator to descend.

"Are you guys doing anything? I can let her rest and check on her later before I go to bed. She'll be okay." 

 

"Uh...Hey," Zein said, patting Riley on the back, adjusting her stance so the girl could latch on without pulling both of them to the ground. Zein didn't flinch, nor did she even seem interested in the blade whirling around her nearly-naked body. She listened to Vanthus while Riley threw her knife out, which then became a person. Zein managed to listen to Vanthus' whole spiel while Roxanne passed out, Riley tried to help Dick drag her around, Sydney stood around bored, and Marcus looked as confused as Zein felt. She took a few steps back, watching the scene unfold before deciding that it was too much. "I'll be hunting down Malik if you need me," she remarked as she walked past Marcus. She sped up her pace so it wouldn't look like she followed the group out into the lobby. She pushed through the training room door, quickly glancing around the throng of kids viciously attacking training  dummies.

"Christ," she said to herself, looking through the crowd again. She couldn't pick out Malik from the crowd, since he'd taken his horned mask off. She wandered towards other side of the room, occasionally catching odd stares towards her unclothed form. She knew she was open to be attacked here but it seemed like the kids thought it would be awkward. At least she wouldn't have to pummel some little shithead to talk to her friend. She glanced around once more, spotting the strange clothing of her companion. She was right; he'd taken his mask off, but she still recognized his jacket. He was in the middle of archery practice, but she decided that now was a great time to interrupt him.

"Damn, hot stuff," she joked. "Took off the mask, huh?" She watched him let loose a few more arrows. "The other kiddos bring too much drama. Especially that Roxanne chick. She already passed out because Riley's knife is apparently also a person. Anyways, they're too energetic." She waited for him to reply with some sort of gesture or a note, taking this as a chance to glance around the room again. She saw Marcus enter, dodging around kids like she'd done earlier. In his hands was a spear from the armory. "What do you think about all this? I think it's too good to be true. We should leave before we get too involved." She watched Marcus expertly dice the dummy apart. Self-repairing dummies...Yeah, this just doesn't feel right.

 

Richard took his sister into the elevator. "Yeah. Going up." he said to the girl. "Whatever floor has two rooms next to each other." he told the girl in white. "And I promise she'll be okay. She's my sister. I'm not going to do anything."

As the elevator doors closed, Richard got a good look at the girl. She was tiny. Very young. She was definitely the youngest person here. "Hey... Um... What brought you here?" he asked her.

 

Riley stood in the hall with Sydney. Marcus, Malik, and Zein were in the training room and the twins were going up to the rooms.  Sydney urged her towards the training room, clearly against the idea of sleeping so soon. Riley glanced back at the twins and waved to Sydney, skipping to the elevator. Sydney sighed and continued into the training room alone. Riley arrived at the elevator just as  the three were stepping in "Oh hey! I'm Riley!" She smiled at the girl- it had been forever since she'd seen a child and it caused a strange feeling in her chest, like hope or relief, glad that there were still innocent youths. She pulled a flower from her belt, Amaryllis, and showed it to the girl "Do you like flowers?"

Sydney stepped into the room calmly, ignoring the people around her and choosing a target in the area between Marcus and Malik/Zein (unsure of which group to join). Her finger morphed into a small blade and she played with the target for a minute, watching it regrow. She turned her finger back into a regular finger and removed her cloak. She was barefoot and had on a pair of dark green pants, the only other article of clothing a small white infinity scarf, tattered and worn, around her neck. She was practically flat and, having grown up with mostly other girls around her, wasn't bothered by the lack of a shirt or bra. She didn't notice if anyone looked at her and didn't really care, kicking the target with advanced proficiency and blades sometimes jutting out from her heel as she struck- Her legs were once useless, to her at least. Since birth her legs had been unbelievably skinny and frail. For years she was stuck in a wheelchair. Then she ran.
She kicked the target harder at the memory. She ran and ran and kicked and kicked. She broker her legs and fainted and was almost unable to walk again, god knows how many times. But she never gave up until they became the powerful machine's they were today. She stepped back and roundhouse kicked the target, several times in quick succession.

 

"But you can't be much older than 6. And this tower can't be that old." Richard said. "Is this all you do?" he asked the little girl. He noticed how the flower reacted to her. "And what's your Flow? That flower seemed to react to you." He realized he hadn't really been asking that much, so he looked to Riley too. "While we're at it, what's yours?"

 

"Well it can't be that long. You're pretty young after all." Riley was glad she liked the flower, she had found it by chance and it was her last reminder of the world that was gone- but she was OK, she wanted the girl to have it. "Me? I... haha... I don't know." She looked back at the ground before smiling "What about you two?"

"Only blades." Sydney nodded, stepping away from the target. She was sweaty and her legs ached "Fuck!" She growled, stomping on the ground. She was frustrated that after so many years her legs still did this. She sat and pulled up her pants, rubbing her calves with a sigh "I'm sorry. It's just... I have weak legs." She sat in silence for a while, just trying to make the pain go away. She used to scream and cry, but after so many years she could hold it in. She turned to Marcus "Yers is probably prett' cool too." She mimicked his speech with a small grin. Sydney stood and stretched, turning to Zein and Malik. "Riley'd probably love it here... I'd much prefer if she was swinging me around rather me having to practice like this..." She pushed her hair out of her face, and her almost entirely obscured face was now visible. She looked around, not noticing a few people watching her "Ya' think they have a pool...? Oh- and by the way, I'm Sydney. I'm sure you know that but... Hello Marcus. I've heard all about you from... well whatever I've overheard as a knife."

 

Riley patted the girl's head as she exited. She looked around the floor, everything in the tower seemed so clean and pretty...

Sydney watched the other's training as she pulled piece of dry skin from her hands. She held the small flake in her fingers with a grin, turning it into a small blade. She wound up and threw it at a target at the far side of the room. She wasn't sure if it hit or not from here, but she seemed to have surprised someone as it had whizzed by their ear. "Think it hit?" She debated walking up to check or not before deciding not to, at least for now "Maybe you could go check for me... Nah- I wouldn't make you." She picked up her cloak and dusted it off before tucking it under her arm "Hmm... Maybe I could swim in the moat..." Sydney began to exit the training room, heading for the main doors.

 

"Our Flows kind of go together. I have clairsentience, she has clairvoyance. I see the past, she sees the future." The elevator dinged pleasantly, and they were let out on the fourth floor. "It was nice to meet you too. Don't get in to any trouble," he said with a kind smile, and stepped out of the elevator.

Richard adjusted his unconscious sister in his arms a little, and looked around. It was incredibly neat and well maintained. He wished Roxanne could see it, but he guessed she'd see it later. He did some looking around and found the two rooms next to each other. In the one on the left, he opened it up and laid Roxanne down on the single bed. He was relieved to have the weight out of his arms, and he stretched them a bit to get the ache out before covering her with the blanket. He checked her pulse just to be sure it was becoming more regular (at least, for her), and then went next door to put his jacket on the bed to mark his territory. He came back and wrote a note to leave beside her that said "Gone to the training room. You're on the fourth floor. My room is next door. -Richard" and left her alone.

When he emerged and shut the door, he looked to Riley. "Do you want to go train? I kind of want to learn more about swordfighting."

 

"But... Swimming..." Sydney pouted and it seemed compared to her usual behavior "I can just kill the sharks or alligators or whatever! Ok, how about this- I do this with Riley to settle things all the time... Bear hug competition, go!"

"Sure." Riley smiled at the boy, practically dragging him back down to the training room "I can help! Syd's a knife, which is kinda like a sword! And we can spar!" She stopped in the doorway as she saw a topless Sydney crushing Marcus in a bear hug. "S-Sydney!" Riley skated over as fast as she could "I thought I told you to start wearing shirts! And what the heck is this-"
"Shirts are too hot and we're having a bear hug competition. I win, I get to swim in the moat. I don't think he's a very challenging opponent. Although the win condition is for him to say uncle, which he hasn't yet- so I guess he's tough?"

 

Richard flushed red and caught Marcus' eye. "Um... could we possibly... wear some clothes around here? I mean we have you, and we have Zein over there... Can we just... not do the topless thing?" He wanted to go pry the topless Sydney away from the other boy, but he had no idea how to do so... properly. He figured the arms were a safe bet, so he stepped over and tried to loosen her arms from Marcus. "It's putting us guys in a weird position. Like, Roxanne goes on these feminist rants all the time saying to respect women and freedom and stuff, and to each their own I guess, but I don't want to get, you know, shouted at for anything. It's creating this weird backwards stuff, and quite frankly, the other guys here may not be as... mature, I guess,... about the whole thing." God, he felt so awkward around this whole thing, but if Roxanne was here, he probably wouldn't have said anything. She'd probably ignore it and just go with the flow. Ha. Flow.